Cindy Schwarzstein posts a progress shot taken on Tuesday. A "new mural collaboration with ElMac, Kofie and Nuke at American Hotel" in Downtown Los Angeles Arts District. Kofie is in the photo by Schwarzstein @cartwheel_art.

Just in time for the big block party on Broadway, the Clifton's sign was just lit. A VFaL operative was standing by with a Mini iPad. Except to see more tonight from Bringing Back Broadway, and anyone with a sense of downtown Los Angeles history.

Levi Fonz Ponce nearing completion of his new mural in Venice, California.

Pacoima Represented: Venice-based photographer Jonathan Alcorn sends along his shot of this new mural on Ocean Front Walk and South Venice Blvd by Levi Fonz Ponce sponsored by The Paradise Project. Being Venice, the image supports a mission of "celebrating and connecting diverse independent free thinkers who are deeply spiritual about science, nature, and our universe." Albert Einstein, Baruch Spinoza, Alan Watts are some of the thinkers in this piece designed by Peter Moriaty. Other segments were done by co-artist Matt Dean.

It’s been quiet here while I travel around the west exploring public art and learn how artists are listening to the desert as a muse. At home I’ve been authoring and adapting and and new art writing to work as a storyteller on social media platforms, and experimenting with mini-documentaries and podcasts. And there's been some graphic design and photography work too. It makes viewfromaloft still in hibernation for now. Maybe a version of a mural wrap will pop up here soon. But for now attention will be on getting back to a new writing rhythm at KCET and keep Paint This Desert growing. If you are interested in all that, follow along.

"There's a street in Coachella that uses a long set of murals as a cultural beacon that rose from a neighborhood. Its origin dates back to the beginning of the California mural movement, and conceivably sends a defiant statement from local artists that they are also a source for the region's creative reputation, not just the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival." [Artbound]

"Los Angeles, California. The evacuation of the Japanese-Americans from West Coast areas under U.S. Army war emergency order. Waiting with their luggage at the old Santa Fe station for a train to take them to Owens Valley" I Russell Lee (1942)

Photogrammar is an online archive from Yale University with 170,000 photographs from the Farm Security Adminstration / Office of War Information. "Approximately 88,000 were printed and placed in the filing cabinets of the FSA-OWI. 77,000 photographs were printed by Stryker’s division and 11,000 prints collected from other sources. Paul Vanderbilt joined the FSA-OWI in 1942 and created a new organizing system for the collection." Check out whatever region you want, state by state or county by county. The top photo comes from a large set showing Japanese-Americans from Southern California gathering at the Santa Fe station. Below, Dorothea Lange in El Monte.

"El Monte federal subsistence homesteads. One hundred homes, all occupied, each with three quarters of an acre land. Average family income, eight hundred dollars per annum" I Photographer Dorothea Lange (1936)

ADD AUGUST 19: Grand Central Market listed at Number Ten. Andrew Knowlton account for the decision:

Let me explain. Over the past year, Grand Central Market, much like the rest of downtown L.A., has seen a remarkable renaissance. When I first started going to GCM a decade ago, it was for tacos and a glimpse into a world much different than what you’d find in, say, Malibu. It was authentic, if a bit gritty. Some of the food was good; much of it wasn’t. But now, with new stands joining the fray, it’s great

Grand Central Market revamped dining may have pushed out some favored bargain vendors, but the venue being nominated as one of Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurant 2014 is an impressive turn for the almost 100-year-old landmark. It’s one of the magazine's 50 nominees.

It’s bustling with updated purveyors and restaurants (customers, too), from the upscale egg sandwiches at Eggslut to one of the country's best burgers (and the beef to make your own) at Belcampo Meat Co. Alongside these new ventures, long-standing Latino vendors like Ana Maria, with its overstuffed gorditas, are crucial to the appeal; it’s that diversity that makes the market delicious—and unique as a one-stop, culinary snapshot of the LA food scene.

There are clips of La Santa Cecilia singing ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ floating around, but now we have this. The band's cover of the Lennon-McCartney classic is now animated and dedicated to migrant agricultural workers. Have some recent concert clips at Artbound Studio A. Have an old post at blogdowntown.